Penicillamine is a non-physiological aminoacid, namely a dimethyl derivative of cysteine.
Penicillamine can occur in two enantiomeric forms. One enantiomer form, the D-penicillamine, can be produced from natural penicillin by hydrolysis or can be produced completely synthetically.
The completely synthetic D-penicillamine can be obtained, for example, by racemic resolution of D,L-penicillamine with the help of optically active bases such as, for example, brucine, d-pseudoephedrine or 1-ephedrine (see "The Chemistry of Penicillin" 1949 Princeton University Press; compare British Pat. No. 585413, U.S. Pat. No. 2,450,784, Belgian Pat. No. 7385207) or 1-norephedrin (German Pat. No. 2138122).
An advantage of D-penicillamine over other -SH compounds, as well as over other cysteine derivatives, is its relative stability in the metabolism, through which its activity is well developed.
D-penicillamine since about 1960 has been employed in the therapy of various illnesses, thus, for example, in the progressive chronic polyarthritis, heavy metal poisonings, chronic-aggressive hepatitis, cirrhosis of the liver, cystinuria, cystine stones, sclerodermia, Morbus Wilson, Morbus Waldenstrom, schizophrenic deficiency, arteriosclerotic disorders, Lupus erythematodes and fibrosis of various genesis.
In the previous long time use of D-penicillamine its toxicology and pharmacokinetics have become well known so that even at a high dosage therapy the side effects associated therewith and the incompatibilities are controlled.